Introducing Kelleen Corrigan and Lia Lindsey

Kelleen Corrigan is Practitioner-in-Residence/Lecturer and Supervising Attorney at the University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic. At the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Kelleen headed the refugee status determination units in South Sudan and Lebanon, and worked as a protection officer in Colombia. Prior to joining UNHCR, Kelleen was a detention attorney with the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC – now Americans for Immigrant Justice) in Miami. Initially an Equal Justice Works Fellow, she focused primarily on providing legal representation and advocacy on behalf of detained immigrant women facing deportation. Previously, Kelleen served as an international volunteer with Peace Brigades International (PBI) in Bogotá, Colombia and subsequently served on the board of PBI in the United States.

Kelleen graduated cum laude from American University, Washington College of Law, where she participated in the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the UN Committee Against Torture Project, co-founded Alternative Spring Break, and worked on the Human Rights Brief and International Law Review. She also has a dual Master’s Degree from Boston University in International Relations and International Communication.

Lia Lindsey

Lia Lindsey is Policy Impact Coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee’s Office of Public Policy and Advocacy in Washington, DC. She is AFSC’s lead in developing policy recommendations and building political will for humane practices on immigration, healing and restorative justice, international human rights, civil rights and United States initiatives impacting Latin America. Lia, an East Coast transplant from the Midwest, has worked on human and civil rights for over 15 years.

Prior to joining AFSC, Lia assisted pro se workers seeking redress for employment discrimination, conducted research for the Office of the Prosecutor at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, coordinated national and state-level human rights campaigns with Amnesty International USA and while working for The Moratorium Campaign supported death row exonerates calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. Lia is an attorney licensed to practice in Washington DC, Massachusetts, and New York.

Kelleen and Lia’s first post will focus on the U.N. Committee against Torture’s concerns about U.S. treatment of immigrants. Heartfelt welcome!